Revitalizing Your Prayer Life

Matthew 6:5-13

The organist was ready to start the service with gusto. But when she put her fingers on the keys, nothing. There was no sound. Everyone knew something was wrong. The Pastor quickly got up and led in prayer.

While he was praying, the janitor who was aware that the Organ wasn’t plugged in snuck to the front of the church and plugged it in. He wrote a note and passed it to the organist.

Wow! After the Prayer. The power will be on.

– How true that is in our lives.

* If we want to live joyful, fulfilled abundant lives, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the power turned on.

* Everyone of us knows how important Prayer is. We know it is the source of power and strength in life. Yet so often we neglect to turn the power of prayer on because some how our own experience with prayer has become dry, or boring, or even painful and something to avoid.

- Jesus died to make a relationship with God possible.

- Prayer is part of that relationship. – Experiencing a vital relationship with God is what makes prayer so powerful and exciting. I want you to experience that.

The Right Attitude For Prayer Matthew 6:5-8

1. Be Real not like the hypocrites

- Pharisees liked to be seen on street corners with hands in the air trying to impress others or God with how spiritual they were.

- Don’t try to impress anyone. - God knows your heart come before him with openness and honesty.

2. Be Relaxed go to your closet and shut the door

- Find a place where you can get away from distractions and just meet with God

3. Be Revealing - don’t use vain repetitions as the heather do

- When you talk to God - just talk to him – pour out your heart

- commonly called the Lord's Prayer. This prayer, Jesus said, "This is how you should pray" not what you should pray. He's giving us an illustration of things we should use in prayer, not this specific prayer to pray.

- I BEGIN BY EXPRESSING MY LOVE TO GOD.

- Focus is on God not you and not your problem.

Perhaps start by saying to Him, "Lord, I want to focus on You." If I come to prayer focusing on myself and my needs first, I just leave prayer most depressed and frustrated than when I began.

But if I come to prayer with the attitude of my focus is upon God, what I can see of Him, what I can learn of Him, what it is that He can show me then I'm going to have the right perspective.

TWO KINDS OF PRAISE

1. Adoration, - praising God for who He is, His character.

2. Thanksgiving - praising God for what He has done or His deeds.

We need to do both of those when we come before the Lord – thanking Him for who He is and thanking Him for what He's done.

1. Reflect On The Character Of God

As you read your Bible and you come across a quality of God that you see, write it down.

- Make a list of God’s character qualities then pray through them giving God praise.

(IE. God is gracious, forgiving, merciful, good, kind etc.)

God answers the prayers that acknowledge who He is.

2. Remind Yourself Of God’s Promises

- affirm the promises that God has made that are contained in the meaning of His names.

* Each of the names of God like, Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Shalom etc. tell us something about God Himself. When I focus on the names of God, when I'm upset or worried I start saying, "Lord you are my Rock. You are my Provider. You are my Strength. You are my Peace." Just take the names of God and claim them for me. It gets the focus off of me and I praise Him and I calm down and I'm able to think about what it is I want to pray about.

You might also simply focus on the promises of God revealed in the scriptures and remind God (actually more remind yourself) of His promises and rest in those promises. As you affirm the promises of God your heart will overflow with thanksgiving.

3. Review Your Reasons For Thanksgiving

Make a list of the good things God has done in your life. So often we focus on the things that go wrong in our lives and we forget the good things. The old hymn Count Your Blessings had a great message to it. "Count your blessings name them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done. Count your many blessings see what God has done."

Is it easy to forget the goodness of God? Absolutely! Day by day I forget what He did for me yesterday even though what He did for me yesterday was great, by tomorrow sometimes I've already forgotten it. If you'll make a list of the things God has done for you and the ways He's blessed your life, as you pray you can review them. Be grateful. It will surprise you what the Lord's done.

I COMMIT MYSELF TO GOD’S PURPOSE AND WILL FOR MY LIFE.

- I find that if I try to skip this part my prayer life shuts down.

- If I’m not ready to bow my knee to almighty God, I might as well stop praying.

- acknowledgment that God is God and I am not.

- pray for God's will to be done in my family and in my church and among my friends and my city.

- I tell the Lord, just do whatever You need to do in my life.

Song "Whatever it takes for me to draw closer to You, Lord, that's what I'm willing to do."

- That's what this time is in prayer. God, You do whatever You need to do in my life.

What needs do I pray about? Absolutely everything.

- nothing too great for God's power to take care of and there's nothing too insignificant for His concern.

1. Salvation

- Saving you and me was the hardest thing that God ever did. There was nothing harder that He could do than to save our souls so when we come and ask a request of Him for our personal daily lives it's a piece of cake in comparison.

2. Sustenance

We can bring absolutely every need before God. He cares for you.

- Wishing and hoping for something is not the same as actually specifically asking for something. When you have a need, ask God for it. And be specific. Write down your request with the promise that you're claiming from the Bible and expect God to answer. Look at Guide #4 for specific prayer requests. (Page 49)

- Why? Doesn't God know what I need? Why do I have to go and talk to Him about it?

- prayer is my personal declaration of dependence on God.

When I come to Him I'm saying, "I'm totally dependant upon You, God. Not because of what I can work for or what I can earn by my smarts or by my industry, but I am totally dependant on You for my needs."

Illustrate: In hospital bed – body out of wack – realized not one thing I could do to change it. That’s when I really understood that every breath comes from God and I am totally dependant upon Him.

1. Ask The Holy Spirit To Reveal Every Sin

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the sin.

2. Confess Each Sin Specifically

-Don’t use "Forgive me all my sins."

- You committed those sins individually, you better ask for forgiveness individually.

* Confess them and give them up. Then God will show mercy to you."

3. Make Restitution When Necessary

- So when God reveals something that you've done to someone else make restitution and get it off your conscious.

* Accept Forgiveness by Faith - God’s promise.

- need to know that God can forgive you and the guilt can be wiped out.

* Kf God has forgiven you – what right do you have not to forgive yourself.

- When we talk about forgiveness you need to accept the fact that you don't have to live with guilt. It can be forgiven and wiped clean.

* Praying for The Forgiveness Of Others Who Have Hurt Us Is Perhaps The Toughest Prayer Assignment Of All.

- It forces us to put our own agenda aside and seek God’s best for others

* Wider Application Of Praying For Others

- remember that God is working in the lives of the people you pray for even when you can't see it.

* In our Parkway Prayer Partners Ministry to be launched later this month – you’ll have a list of all the people in our church with their picture so you can remember them in prayer. Pray for government leaders etc.

* Hear seniors often say "Well I can’t do much for the Lord anymore"

- Others say "Well, I guess the least I can do for you is pray."

---- No, No, No – the best way you can serve the Lord and the most you can do for someone is to pray for them.

And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. (Mt 6:13)

We face a spiritual battle every day and Satan wants to defeat us through temptation and fear.

- If I start every day without praying for God's protection I'm walking into battle unprotected. I'm walking into battle without the spiritual armour we're supposed to put on.

- Ask God to make you aware of evil in this world. If you're unaware of it, you can get caught by it, you can get involved in it before you even know what's going on. But if you ask the Lord to make you aware of evil and evil, tempting situations, you can fight it.

Conclusion

* Illustrate: - Japanese introduced Bonsai tree. - Miniature tree – when first stick out of ground – puled out and main tap root is tied off. – Limit roots ability to grow deep and provide growth to the tree.

* What owner does to Bonsai tree - Satan seeks to do in life of the believer.

– Try to tie off the tap root of prayer – limit our receiving in prayer what God supplies for our growth. 

"When we depend upon organizations, we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education, we get what education can do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend on prayer, we get what God can do." A.C. Dixon

What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. (E.M.Bounds)

"...Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons—but they are helpless against our prayers" (Sidlow Baxter).

"The ‘detonator’ that churches lack today is prayer. It has the power to ignite the dynamite of the Gospel and powerfully shake the world." – John Maxwell